Protecting and Growing Self and Wealth in These Uncertain Times

Doomsday Bunkers

Remember when I blogged the other day about a new “doomsday”-themed TV show on the cable/satellite channel Country Music Television?

Well, I got the chance to watch the premier episode of Doomsday Garage this afternoon.

Here’s a short summary of what went on in “Suburban Commando”:

The show started off with the following intro:

When all Hell breaks lose, people need to defend themselves and get out of harm’s way. A bunker isn’t going to cut it. It’s just an underground death trap. You’ve got to stay mobile. That’s where we come in. My son and I build custom vehicles called bug-out trucks. Whether it’s a terrorist attack, a natural disaster, or a government takeover, you need to be tougher than the danger ahead. We build bug-out trucks, so regular Joes can protect themselves and their families. We’re the best in the business, because we live by only one rule:

When danger strikes, you’ve got to strike back.

Viewers were introduced to the following garage personnel (in order of appearance):

Ryan and Tina seemed to think so too, and the last part of the “Suburban Commando” showed the couple putting their BOV through the paces with the help of Mike and the garage.

By the time Tina chewed up and detonated a junked car with her “Ma Deuce,” it became all too clear that not only did their customized Chevy Suburban look the part of a survival truck, but played it as well.

So what did I think about the premiere episode of Doomsday Garage?

I liked it. The premiere episode offered a little bit of everything for the prepper/survivalist, the gearhead, the off-roading enthusiast, the gun “nut,” and the “reality” TV fan.

Jeff, Zach, and the rest of cast are likeable too.

As I mentioned earlier, the format reminded me of Doomsday Bunkers quite a bit (which is funny considering the intro flamed underground shelters), where Deep Earth Bunker would meet with clients, talk to them about their needs, go about fabricating the customized underground shelter, and bring the clients to where their bunker was being fabricated.

Also, like I’ve said before with other prepper/survivalist-themed TV productions, I’m big on education/information with as little as possible “reality” TV. While I would have preferred more info on the various aspects of the setup and project (you can’t just buy an M2 machine gun at the local gun shop), the production company behind Doomsday Garage thankfully kept the reality stuff to a minimum (Aaron breaking the die on the pipe bender was the only instance of drama I can remember).

Come to think of it, there wasn’t much to dislike about the show at all. The only thing I really had a beef with was the episode being only a half-hour long. With such a time constraint, a lot of material can only be glossed-over. If that’s all the time Doomsday Garage will have to work with down the road, perhaps pop-ups can be utilized to share more information with viewers.

While Doomsday Garage looks set up to be an ongoing TV series, I couldn’t find anything on the Country Music Television website that indicates it will be.

Yesterday I mentioned Glenn Beck’s The Blaze TV. The more I watch the channel on satellite TV (DISH Network ch. 212 in Chicago), the more I’m impressed with it. As a matter of fact, a terrific prepper/survivalist-themed “reality” TV show on The Blaze is Independence USA. I discussed what this successor to Apocalypse PA is about back in a September 14 post. I also noted at that time:

Starting Sunday, September 16, new episodes of Independence USA will be airing on TheBlazeTV.

And I intend to be watching.

As for those episodes I missed? Here’s hoping there will be an Independence USA marathon sometime soon.

Well, I have been watching, and it appears season 2 has ended after 10 episodes (season 1 comprised 8 installments).

Here are some thoughts about Independence USA after their sophomore season:

• Regular readers of the blog know I watch a good deal of “doomsday” TV. The Blaze TV’s Independence USA is “reality” TV, not unlike National Geographic Channel’s Doomsday Preppers and Discovery Channel’s Doomsday Bunkers. And like the other two television series, it’s good. Real good in my opinion.
• I like to watch Doomsday Preppers because I’m curious to see what Americans across the country are doing to prepare for TEOTWAWKI. I like watching Doomsday Bunkers because I’ve always been fascinated by underground shelters ever since I was a kid, and I like the technical aspect of the show. As for Independence USA? Frank Belcastro and his family are “preparing for the worst, one unbelievable project at a time.” While the family is very likeable, it’s the projects that really draw me in. I find myself eagerly anticipating Sunday night to see what projects (old and new) Frank, wife Kim, son Adam, and daughter Emma are working on to bring them closer to achieving self-sufficiency.
• Regarding the projects- discussion and information provided about them isn’t really too in-depth. Just enough to give viewers an idea of why they’re needed and what’s entailed in making them happen. If I’m really interested in finding out more about something I saw in an episode, I just jump on the Internet and start digging around. My favorite Belcastro project from the episodes I’ve seen has to be the underground shelter made from a shipping container. Very cool.
• It was obvious from watching the episode that featured their remote campsite and “new” cabin cruiser that the Belcastro family and Independence USA plan on sticking around for a while. That would be nice. Make it happen Glenn.
• The Blaze could really run with this TV series. Doomsday Preppers has a tremendous presence on the Nat Geo Channel portion of the National Geographic website (which comes to no surprise as it’s their highest-rated television series). The same could be done with Independence USA on The Blaze TV area of TheBlaze.com. At the very least, the “Episodes” area of the show’s webpage could use more detail. The Blaze TV wasn’t picked up by the DISH Network until recently. As such, DISH customers missed season 1 of Independence USA. I’ve seen a bunch of episodes now, but I’m not too sure which season they belonged to. I also know I didn’t see all of them in order. I saw a greenhouse being built on top of the buried Belcastro bunker in one episode, and the bunker being installed in a “later” one. Yep- more info on the show’s webpage would be real nice to help viewers keep track of things. Also, how about an Independence USA marathon for DISH Network customers, or replaying all 18 episodes of season 1 and 2 before the next season premieres? Like I said, The Blaze could really run with this show.

In my opinion, The Blaze has a real gem here with Independence USA. I think it could rival Doomsday Preppers in popularity if Glenn Beck’s crew play their cards right.

You can find out more information about the show on TheBlaze.com here.

So, did anyone see the premiere Monday of the new NBC television series Revolution (discussed here)? Last month I came across a Los Angeles Times article that talked about upcoming TEOTWAWKI and End Times-related television shows. T.L. Stanley wrote in “Show Tracker: What You’re Watching” on the Times website on July 28:

Armageddon is about to get unprecedented amounts of TV airtime. In the coming months, network and cable channels will use doomsday as a hook to draw viewers to end-times-themed reality competitions, action thrillers, comic-book adaptations and docu-dramas…

If you want to know more about what’s already out there (Doomsday Bunkers, Doomsday Preppers, Tom Hanks’ Electric City, Falling Skies, Revolution, The Walking Dead) and what’s in store for TV viewers (Last Family on Earth, Last Resort, The Last Ship, among others), check out Stanley’s piece on the Times site here.

Back on March 7, I blogged about a new Discovery Channel TV series called Doomsday Bunkers, which focused on Dallas, Texas-based company Deep Earth Bunker and their design/manufacture of emergency shelters for different clients. The first of what would eventually be three episodes making up season 1 debuted later that day, with a new show appearing every Wednesday until March 21. As no new installments followed, fans questioned whether or not the series had been cancelled. Then came a May 15 Deep Earth Bunker press release that indicated a second season was forthcoming, with 16 new episodes of Doomsday Bunkers being filmed.

However, the other day I was reading the “Show Tracker” section on the Los Angeles Times website. T.L. Stanley wrote on July 28:

And though Discovery Channel hasn’t decided to bring back the modest hit “Doomsday Bunkers,” which followed a Dallas-based company called Deep Earth Bunker and its clients, the network has some one-hour end-of-the-world specials in mind for this year.

Discovery wasn’t specifically looking for an apocalyptic-themed series, said Nancy Daniels, the network’s executive vice president of production and development, but “Doomsday Bunkers” fit with its ongoing strategy of highlighting entrepreneurs (a la “American Choppers”) and quirky subcultures.

“Our viewers respond to people who take charge and take control of their lives,” Daniels said. “And these preppers are so focused and so certain of their path. It makes you think, ‘That’s kind of crazy, but maybe I should be doing it.'”

(Editor’s note: Italics added for emphasis)

Judging from what’s written, it sounds like the Discovery Channel may be on the fence as it concerns bringing back Doomsday Bunkers.

Many of you need no introduction to Deep Earth Bunker LLC. Back on March 9 I introduced the new Discovery Channel TV show Doomsday Bunkers and wrote:

Enter Scott Bales, an engineer by trade and owner of Deep Earth Bunker out of Dallas, Texas. From their website:

We manufacture and design, Bunkers and Storm/Hurricane Shelters Panic Vaults and Safe Rooms!

According to Bales, DEB started off fabricating storm shelters first, then added bunkers due to prepper demand. From the show:

Extreme weather and a volatile economy have triggered an explosion of new preppers. Scott’s Texas plant has been bombarded with new orders.

The company has built and installed hundreds of bunkers to date.

While surfing the DEB website earlier this week I noticed Scott and company now had something called Deep Earth Bunker Radio. From the site:

The Host of Doomsday Bunkers Scott and guests, talking about many issues as well as bunkers!

Sounds neat. It looks like the first show premiered on Saturday, May 26, but they ran into technical problems. I downloaded the next two shows- which aired that next day and that following Saturday- onto my MP3 player earlier this week. From the website:

Make up Show Deep Earth Bunker
Sun, May 27, 2012

We apologize for our first show on Saturday, the servers which handle live streaming and callers was down and we couldnt take calls or stream live, a recording of the show is on deepearthbunker.com, we stopped 45 mins early because our scheduled callers couldnt get into the system. So we scheduled a 1 hr show tonight in order to make up for it.

THIS WEEKS RADIO SHOW WILL BE AT 9CST INSTEAD OF 8 BECAUSE ILL BE ON ANOTHER SHOW FROM 7-8 CST. WE WILL BEGIN AT 9CST-11PM THIS SATURDAY, GIVES ME A 1 HR BREAK BETWEEN SHOWS!

We have several guests on the show, including DUTCHSINSE, and several clients of Deep Earth Bunker.

The Producer of our show is Dixon Troyer, and 20 year Veteran producer of several tv shows and doomsday bunkers our show! He also was a actor back in the day.

We can take questions about our show , what we are doing now, etc.. As well as discuss many things going on in the world, why people need to protect themselves.

GOVERNMENT ISSUES

HAARP WEATHER MODS

FEMA CAMPS

GUNS

EVERYTHING

Also the Media that we are about to do on national tv and other radio stations, news stations.

We can talk about almost anything.

I listened to both shows, and I must admit, I didn’t know what to think at first. The production quality wasn’t as polished as something like The Survival Podcast. Scott Bales even went off-air late during the June 2 show. But I’ve always been more about the content when it comes to these things, so the rough-around-the-edges production and glitches weren’t that big of a deal for me. I have a pretty good idea Dixon, Scott, and the rest of the gang will iron things out as the show progresses.

About content. The topics for each show were announced at the beginning of the broadcasts, and a number of subjects were discussed, including the “Amero,” bartering, bug-out bags, bunkers (of course!), current threats, self-sufficiency, weapons, and zombies, to name a few. Call-in guests contributed to the discussion. These included preppers, bunker clients who appeared on Doomsday Bunkers episodes, and even a producer of National Geographic Channel’s Doomsday Preppers, who got into prepping after working on that show. Listeners were also invited to call in as well.

Overall, I liked the two installments I listened to of Deep Earth Bunker Radio. Nothing was really in-depth, but they touched on a lot of subjects. Some stuff I found interesting/useful, others things, not so much. But someone else probably did though, so that’s cool. Following-up with DEB clients who appeared on Doomsday Bunkers was neat, as was the Doomsday Preppers producer’s story. I plan on listening to their next show, which is scheduled to be broadcast tomorrow, Saturday, June 9.

Last night I blogged about the Discovery Channel TV series Doomsday Bunkers. And before I forget, I recently came across a piece on the website of CBS affiliate First 12 News in northeast Texas in which Deep Earth Bunker owner Scott Bales talked about the prepper movement. Kristen Shanahan wrote on May 10:

Those who believe the worst is yet to come are getting ready and they are known as “preppers”. For the past 14 years, Scott Bales has been in the business of building bunkers, shelters that can withstand just about anything designed to keep unwelcome guests out – including zombies.

“Zombies are people that didn’t prepare and then the world does whatever, and they’re the ones trying to get in your bunker to get your stuff that will kill you for your food and water. They go from procrastinators to zombies instantly,” Bales said.

Shanahan got a taste of operational security (OPSEC) while putting together the article. The KXII reporter and weekend anchor added:

Preppers come in all shapes and sizes. You could have a prepper next door to you and never even know it. Secrecy is just another tool for survival that is why none of the preppers we talked to would speak on camera.

“If you spend about half a million dollars on a bunker and you were going to hide there if there was a collapse, you wouldn’t want anybody knowing where it is because they’re going to know you have food and water in that bunker, and they’re going to come and get it,” Bales explained.

Having a number of preppers among his bunker clients, Bales talked about their gravest concern. From the piece:

He says people are preparing for all sorts of situations, but the most common is the potential crash of the worldwide economy.

“If we ran out of food right now and everybody ran to the store, there would only be three days of food left on every shelf and warehouse in the country. Three days,” Bales said.

(Editor’s note: Italics added for emphasis)

A worldwide financial crash? That’s just plain crazy.

Seriously, when was the last time the global economy was in that degree of trouble?

Major television production company seeks individuals and families prepping for the apocalypse….zombie style. If you are preparing for the end of the world by training to kill zombies and stay alive in a zombie apocalypse, then we want to hear from you. Please give us a brief description about your experience in preparing for a zombie apocalypse and include a photo with contact information.

Survival And Prosperity just reached another milestone with 800 posts having been published since the blog’s debut on November 22, 2010.

Perhaps a quick vacation is in order?

With all the new developments going on these days that could impact our personal and financial safety and growth- that’s not going to happen.

I know the weblog has been heavy on the financial side lately, but I felt sharing and discussing this material was necessary. If we only got our cues about the economy from those in power in Washington, D.C., and from the Federal Reserve these days, it would be all good news all the time. Comparing what’s been said against actual performance often reveals a different story. And contrary to the official line that says the U.S. economic recovery is growing stronger, I remain convinced it’s all a façade, and one need only look beneath the surface to comprehend how much trouble the economy and larger financial system are truly in. I truly wish this weren’t so- but I owe it to myself, and SP readers, to be a “grown-up” about this.

Going forward, I will be publishing a few more posts today before I switch over into full “Doomsday” mode for the next couple of days. I owe readers four episode reviews of the National Geographic Channel TV series Doomsday Preppers. Once those are published, I intend to address some of the criticisms being hurled at that show and the Discovery Channel TV series Doomsday Bunkers.

In the meantime, should any blog-worthy events pop up, I might fit those in as well.

That’s it for now. As always, feel free to contact me regarding any questions/concerns/suggestions you have about the blog. I’m a little bit behind on responding to recent messages but I hope to have that taken care of in the next couple of days. I apologize for the delay.

Speaking of the Discovery Channel TV series Doomsday Bunkers, I noticed this morning that Deep Earth Bunker, the shelter company that’s been the focus of the show, now has the entire season 1 (three episodes) embedded on its website.

For those of you who don’t have the Discovery Channel but are interested in watching the series, now’s your chance.

Doomsday Bunkers season 1 can be found in the “Doomsday/Bunker People” section of DEB’s website here.

Those who watch the National Geographic Channel TV series Doomsday Preppers and the Discovery Channel TV show Doomsday Bunkers may have noticed that quite a few of the individuals appearing on these productions are actually “prepper entrepreneurs.” These television shows, along with growing concerns about the-end-of-the-word-as-we-know-it (TEOTWAWKI), have resulted in boom times for the emergency preparedness industry. I know Deep Earth Bunker, the Dallas, Texas-based shelter company that’s featured in Doomsday Bunkers, indicated on their web site that they were swamped with interest about their products while season 1 was running. And do you remember Riley Cook from episode 6 of Doomsday Preppers? Riley was the welder living in Silverthorne, Colorado, with his wife and four kids, and who was prepping to survive a polar shift (actually, true polar wander it sounded like).

You may recall that Riley also produces underground shelters. Well, I came across the following on the 680News (Toronto, Canada) website on Monday:

A down economy appears to be good times for at least one Colorado company.

Many disaster-shelter companies across the nation can’t keep up with the demand from their customers, who all appear to be worried about the future.

The Colorado company was recently profiled on the show “Doomsday Preppers,” hosted on the National Geographic Channel.

Owner Riley Cook says their phones have been ringing off the hook ever since, with people requesting everything from survival kits to advice…

While blogging about episode 3 of the Discovery Channel TV series Doomsday Bunkers last Wednesday, I wrote the following:

FYI, I sent a little note out to corporate (Discovery Communications, LLC) regarding future episodes and upcoming air dates. We’ll see what they say. Of course, I’ll let Survival And Prosperity readers know if I hear anything back that’s worthwhile.

Well, here’s what I received from them Friday afternoon:

Dear Viewer:

Thank you for contacting Discovery Channel.

We appreciate your enthusiasm regarding our programming and for taking the time to write us. Positive feedback such as yours is very important to us. We want you to know we will pass your comments on to our program management and executive producers. Please know that each and every comment is read and taken into consideration for future programming.

Season 1 of Doomsday Bunkers has recently ended, but please continue to visit www.discovery.com for updated information on this program.

Thank you again for expressing interest in our programming.

Sincerely,

Viewer Relations
Discovery Channel

So, looks like that’s it for Doomsday Bunkers for now. Season 1 will consist of only three episodes. At least that allows the production company and others affiliated with the project to iron out any wrinkles they encountered while putting together episodes 1-3.

Until Doomsday Bunkers season 2 debuts, I’ll still be blogging about the show occasionally. Stay tuned.

It’s Wednesday, but no new episode of the Discovery Channel TV series Doomsday Bunkers will be airing tonight (second straight week).

FYI, I sent a little note out to corporate (Discovery Communications, LLC) regarding future episodes and upcoming air dates. We’ll see what they say. Of course, I’ll let Survival And Prosperity readers know if I hear anything back that’s worthwhile.

In the meantime, I still owe you my review of episode 3 of Doomsday Bunkers, “Tsunami Pod/Nuclear Fallout Shelter.”

At the beginning of the episode, which aired on March 21, Deep Earth Bunker was shown to be inundated with work. Floor Manager Jesse Saul was trying to deal with the significant backlog of shelters that customers- many of them preppers- had ordered and were waiting upon. It was revealed that springtime is particularly busy for DEB, when severe weather routinely makes the headlines. From the show:

In 2011, extreme weather accounted for $130 billion in damages with hundreds of thousands dead.

In addition, there was this:

And the most extreme preppers suspect the government is behind it.

Say what? Deep Earth Bunker owner Scott Bales explained:

Up in Alaska, there’s this thing called HAARP. HAARP stands for High Frequency Active Auroral Research Project. It’s for shooting high frequency through antennas up into the ionosphere, and bouncing it back down. Originally built to talk to submarines deep in the water. A lot of my clients think the government is using it to control the weather.

I’ll have to take a closer look at that claim. In the meantime, more information about HAARP can be found at the project’s website here.

Loretta Sanders

The first client viewers met in episode 4 was Loretta Sanders, a prepper and former police sergeant. Sanders has a nuclear power plant 15 miles south of her home. According to the show, Indian Point Nuclear Plant, just outside New York City, is one of the most vulnerable reactors in the country. She explained:

This is ground zero. When they built it I guess they didn’t realize it’s 1 mile south of a connecting fault line. If there’s an earthquake and it starts to melt it’s going to be mayhem. The meltdown will take out this entire area. Most people will panic in evacuation. With 4 to 7 days the Joe Six-Packs of the world, without food or water, will break down your door, trying to find food. They’ll start to scavenge and we’ll revert back to hunting and being hunted.

The show revealed:

She’s prepared to do whatever it takes to protect her son Teddy, her daughter Marissa, and her growing stockpile.

Sanders added:

I’m prepping to live indefinitely. If the world changes permanently, I’m ready for that… I want to be able to get underground so I want Scott to protect me.

Scott Bales worked with Loretta to get her an underground bunker. He explained:

If an earthquake does happen, there’s going to be fallout- big time.

Bales pointed out that the former police officer’s shelter needed a nuclear/biological/chemical, or NBC, filter to prevent nuclear fallout from entering her bunker. According to Bales, the radioactive fallout will get hung up in the NBC filter.

He informed Loretta that it would take 4 weeks to complete her bunker. In the meantime, DEB would try to get permits to allow the transportation of heavy equipment/loads on roads near the installation site during the winter.

Envisioning the shelter’s design, Scott said:

If there’s a nuclear disaster, Loretta might have to go in this bunker for up to a year. So I have to make sure there’s enough space for her food and water supplies.

From the show:

Scott’s designing her a 2-unit, 600 square foot bunker. With sleeping quarters for 10, ample storage for her growing supplies, 2 500 gallon tanks- 1 for drinking water, 1 for waste. A full bathroom and kitchen. And most importantly, a state-of-the-art NBC filter to protect her from any fallout. Time frame, 4 weeks. Total cost, $150,000.

DEB staff went to work on the project, and Loretta Sanders was shown preparing for her new underground dwelling. From the episode:

A nuclear meltdown at Indian Point could contaminate over 1,100 square miles around the plant. So Loretta’s decided to buy land to install her bunker 3 hours north. But to get there, they might have to drive through looting, rioting, or worse. To survive, Loretta wants to learn how to turn her car into a weapon.

As the prepper movement has grown, defensive driving schools like this one have seen an unprecedented number of civilians taking their courses.

Loretta received defensive driving instruction, and is subsequently shown plowing through a mock roadblock consisting of two vehicles parked end-to-end. Loved it.

The prepper, mother, and former LEO shared this with viewers:

This is why I prep. The government is not my first line of defense, I am. And as a citizen, that’s my right.

Unfortunately, Loretta doesn’t get her new bunker on time. Renee Bales, Scott’s wife and head of Accounting, informed DEB’s owner that the permits were denied because of “freeze laws,” with the trailer and bunker deemed to be too heavy. Scott is shown breaking the bad news to Loretta, which meant delivery of her steel shelter would be delayed 3 to 4 weeks until the roads thawed out. All in all, she seemed pretty cool with that.

Tsunami Pod

Another episode, another new project. Scott Bales told viewers in episode 3:

Last night, I came up with a great idea. Something to protect people from a tsunami wave. This is the ultimate product for a prepper. All of the people that live on the coasts have this fear. They’re wondering, “When is that wave going to come in and get us?” There’s nothing to protect you against a tsunami. Nothing. Except for our tsunami pod.

From the show:

Scott’s designed a floating steel orb, 10 feet in diameter, with room for 2 people. When the tsunami waves hit, the airtight ball would be lifted off a special stand, and kept upright through a concrete weight called a ballast.

The owner of DEB added:

Because you have ballast in there, it brings it to where they’re sitting right back up… This thing has to be waterproof, it has to be able to take impact, it also has to sit up straight so the passengers are sitting in an upwards position.

Scott assigned Scotty Free, Special Projects Manager, and Charlie Christie, Quality Assurance/Carpenter, to the project. It’s revealed that DEB budgeted $80,000 in parts and labor for the development of the Tsunami Pod, making it the most expensive prototype in the Dallas-based company’s history.

Before the project commenced, Scott Bales noted:

Scott Free is an older guy. Set in his ways. Precise. Charlie. Young. Moves very quickly. Adapts quickly. Charlie’s a builder, and Scott’s a fabricator. They’ll bump heads, but, with both of them together, they can figure out the tsunami pod.

Not without hiccups, Scotty and Charlie pieced together the Tsunami Pod prototype. They then pounded the pod’s steel exterior with a debris shooter, which is capable of shooting a 14-foot 2 X 4 more than 600 mph. Amazingly, the thing survived.

Next, Scotty and Charlie tested the prototype out in a parking lot. They discovered the pod’s ballast, which consists of 150 lbs. of concrete, needed adjusting.

The final test of the Tsunami Pod took place at a lake, where DEB staff could test the ballast once again and see if the prototype was watertight. Scott Bales explained:

When you do something in a ball shape, the water spreads itself out until it hits a resistance point just under the equator. You’d never want the water to go over the equator. If we added too much weight or this thing leaks, it’s going to sink to the bottom of the lake.

Upon dropping the steel structure into the body of water, it’s discovered that while it was watertight, the pod floated on its side. Apparently, Scotty and Charlie didn’t compensate for the weight of the door. Despite this oversight, the tests of the Tsunami Pod were declared successful. Scott Bales remarked:

I feel great that the Tsunami Pod is floating, and I just have to adjust some ballast. But this test is a success.

Weyland Smith

The second client viewers were introduced to was Weyland Smith, a Deep Earth Bunker salesman and prepper who resides in Homer, Louisiana. Weyland recently became a prepper while working with DEB. He explained:

One of my bunker clients had some basic ideas I’d never really had put in front of me before. Go to your local grocery store late at night- half the food aisles are empty. If something broke our supply chain, I know the store shelves would be empty in 3 days. My biggest fear is the drastic change we’ve seen in the weather. We all need to be better prepared. If I need something, it’s not going to always be at the corner store to pick up.

Being from Louisiana, Weyland has first-hand experience with what the aftermath of a disaster looks like. He called the refugees from Hurricane Katrina:

We really saw the level of unpreparedness that these people had. And to wade through the devastation afterwards. It really opened your eyes.

He added:

I’m still new at this prepping. I’m kind of learning as I go. And I’m now finally getting the one that I need.

Weyland talked about why he wanted an underground shelter. He said:

My bunker will serve primarily as a shelter in case of bad weather. The shelter that I bought is a steel, doghouse-style shelter. Double-welded, with a marine-grade coating, totally watertight. And it will be perfect protection for my family.

He’s picked out a steel shelter that’s big enough for his family, and some food and supplies. It will be great for short-term, emergency situations.

In the episode, Weyland Smith said he now realized he’d been prepping all along. Accumulating gear and supplies for different outdoor activities had given him a head start. Smith revealed that his wife already had 3 months’ worth of food canned. His goal was to have 6 months’ worth set aside. In addition, Weyland hunts and processes his own meat with his son, J.D. They’ve managed to sock away 3 to 4 months of meat already.

Weyland made this observation:

People in the rural areas will be much more likely to survive because they have the basic skills to take of themselves.

Near the end of the episode, Weyland opted to install his new shelter himself, and Scott Bales stopped on by to check out how he was doing.

Overall, I enjoyed episode 3 of Doomsday Bunkers. I have to admit- this TV series is growing on me. “Tsunami Pod/Nuclear Fallout Shelter” was interesting, informative, and funny- yet again. Loretta Sanders is a total hoot. I especially enjoyed that scene where she was cleaning her firearms. Not to mention her barreling that car into the “roadblock.” The production crew once again managed to keep the annoying “reality” TV elements to a minimum.

No time for drama WTSHTF, right?

Hopefully, more episodes of Doomsday Bunkers will air soon on the Discovery Channel.

As there doesn’t appear to be an episode 4 on the Discovery Channel tonight, fans of the show may be wondering if that’s it for now.

Well, here’s what Deep Earth Bunker, the shelter company that’s the focus of the television series, has to say on their website under their “News” section:

TV SHOW AIR-DATES March 7(1st ep) March 14(2nd ep) March 21(3rd ep) No dates on the rest as of yet! Enjoy the show.. On Discovery Channel. Show was changed from BUNKER PEOPLE to DOOMSDAY BUNKERS at the last minute..

(Editor’s note: Italics added for emphasis)

Anyway, if I hear of any new episodes scheduled to be aired, I’ll blog about it on Survival And Prosperity.

In the meantime, my review of Doomsday Bunkers, episode 3, will be published by tomorrow.

I usually don’t post any new material on the weekends, but I wanted to make sure a “Resource Of The Week” got published before I close up shop for the week.

Recently, I’ve been getting a lot of messages via the Survival And Prosperity “Contact” page about the Discovery Channel’s Doomsday Bunkers television series and the National Geographic Channel’s Doomsday Preppers TV series.

However, since I have no affiliation with either production, I haven’t been much help when it comes to answering questions about the preppers and companies featured on the shows.

In this week’s ROTW, I’ve listed these parties, and inserted links to either a particular company’s website or to a site that a particular prepper is affiliated with (easy enough, as many are “prepper entrepreneurs”), in hopes this might help those with questions find the answers they’re looking for:

From My Other Blog

Continuing “Greek Week” on Offshore Safe Deposit Boxes, Greek state television has announced Greek banks will remain closed for the remainder of this week. Both Reuters and the Associated Press have reported cash withdrawals from Greek bank safe deposit boxes have been prohibited. Reuters ran its story Sunday while the Associated Press revealed Monday: No […] ...

While pouring over the latest news of Greece’s sovereign debt crisis tonight, I spotted the following snippet on the Daily Mail (UK) website. Nick Fagge reported Wednesday: Safety-box deposit firms have reported a huge increase in demand with wealthy Greeks storing their cash and other valuables anywhere other than their bank… (Editor’s note: Bold added […] ...

Yesterday, I blogged about a Reuters piece from Sunday which said cash withdrawals from Greek bank safe deposit boxes were now prohibited. Monday, the Associated Press reported that accessing currency from these containers might be left to the legislative process. From the Fox News website: There was confusion Sunday night over the fate of bank […] ...